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Episode 1312: A Puig of Their Own
Date December 22, 2018 Summary Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the Daniel Murphy, Trevor Cahill, Anibal Sanchez, and Andrew Miller signings, react in real time to the three-team Jurickson Profar trade, and answer listener emails about signing Bryce Harper for one year, signing Harper as a catcher, choosing between watching games and having access to all other information, rebuilding by collecting exorbitant contracts, an NBA case of mistaken identity, and the offseason if teams were in the dark about transactions, plus a Stat Blast about one-year wonders. Then (54:38) Ben talks to The Ringer’s Katie Baker about the greatness of the late Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own, its casting and most quotable lines, the best what-ifs from the film, what the movie missed, and what it means to many women. Lastly (1:21:36), Ben brings on another Ringer colleague, Zach Kram, to talk about the Dodgers-Reds blockbuster involving Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, and Alex Wood, the Mariners’ trade for Domingo Santana, and his research about why trading for prospects often doesn’t pan out.' ' '' Topics * Bryce Harper 1 year deal * Bryce Harper the catcher * Desert island baseball possibilities * One hit wonders * Right name, wrong player * Different type of rebuild * Teams blind in free agency * How did “A League of Their Own” get made * Why is the movie underrated * The baseball in the movie * Casting * Jimmy and Dottie romance scene that wasn't * How did the real life women of the movie react * Things left out of the movie * Cooperstown scenes * Did Dottie drop ball on purpose * Dodgers Reds trade * Dodgers next move * Effect on Yasiel Puig * The Reds * Mariners Brewers trade * Trading for prospects Intro * Willie Nelson, "So Much to Do" Interstitials * Guided By Voices, "The Littlest League Possible" * Koufax, "Work Will Never End" Outro * Pixies, "The Holiday Song" Banter * Chilly hot stove * Daniel Murphy * Trevor Cahill * The A's starting rotation * The Angel's catchers * Jurickson Profar * Trading draft picks Email Questions * Taek: In his recent column about the Cards acquiring Goldschmidt, Craig Edwards mentioned that Harper should still be an attractive free agent for the team. What if, however, the team is solely focused on being successful next season and don't wanna bring in a potentially risky long-term contract? How much will Harper and Boras accept for a one year contract? * Joseph: Harper started out as a catcher, how much would he make in free agency if he demanded, like Machado, to play his old position (for at least 100 games a year)? Does the answer change if he only wants to catcher one inning a game? * Mike: Hypothetical question. Say you have to spend a year in a cabin out in the wilderness somewhere, without having to worry about your day job. No radio or TV, only internet connection. The service provider only gives you two choices: A) you have live streaming, so you can watch all the live baseball you want. But, you won’t have access to the rest of the internet, so no Twitter, Reddit, fangraphs, b-ref, MLB trade rumors, MLB network, highlights, podcasts, etc. B) you can follow baseball as you do now, but you won’t have live streaming capabilities so you can’t watch any games live or after the fact. Given the choice between only watching games and only following MLB on other media, which would let you enjoy the sport more as a fan? What would most fans choose? * Sivan: I recall you a little while back talking about how long it would take a GM to realize they traded for Chris Davis instead of Khris Davis. Well, a very similar thing almost happened in the NBA: https://deadspin.com/an-nba-trade-just-fell-apart-because-someone-confused-t-1831116327 * Linder: I was thinking recently about how rebuilding has always been associated with cutting payroll in the short term. Wouldn’t it be a smart idea (given sufficient finances) to expedite a rebuild by trading for a horde of players with awful contracts such as Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Heyward, etc. Although some of these have no-trade clauses with their large contracts, it seems as though acquiring these guys would allow a rebuilding team to stack up a group of prospects very quickly. Has this been attempted before? Would this idea work? Also, would be it fun or sad to watch a team full of former stars play at a replacement level? * Ben: You’ve spoken previously about whether it would be interesting to not read about any of the offseason moves, then show up at spring training and see who was on which teams. My question is, how would free agency play out if teams didn't know any of the transactions occurring (at least the transactions that they weren't involved in)? Let's say that MLB changes the rules, and free agency begins at the deadline for teams to set their 40-man rosters in anticipation of the Rule 5 draft. At this point, teams know who is available, who is on each 40-man roster, and can conduct business as usual. Except that then there are no announcements, no free agent press conferences, nothing. If a team calls up an agent about a player and that player has already signed elsewhere, they get a stock answer: "Sorry, X is no longer available to sign a contract." Teams aren't announcing trades, so if Jerry Dipoto tries to swing a trade, he finds out his target's been traded because the other GM texts back "he gone." When a player gets DFAd in the offseason, no claims are made because no one knows that anyone has been cut from another team's roster! Statblast * Players with biggest differences in single season WAR and career WAR * Cito Gaston’s 1970 season was worth 5.5, his career WAR is 0.8. Notes * Russell Carleton did an article and found the difference between an emergency catcher and a regular catcher would be 50 runs. * “I'm exhausted just thinking about this hypothetical” - Jeff * Emilio Pagan had the 32nd highest spin rate among all pitchers on 4 seam fastball. * “A League of Their Own” is the highest grossing baseball movie. Links https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/effectively-wild-episode-1312-a-puig-of-their-own/ Link to Travis on the slow free-agent market Link to Jeff on the Murphy signing Link to Jeff on Cahill Link to Russell on the defense of emergency catchers Link to Katie on A League of Their Own Link to Britni on A League of Their Own Link to Zach on trading top prospects Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes Category:Guest Episodes